Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council on Tuesday confirmed the re-election of President Alassane Ouattara for a fourth term by a 89.77-per cent landslide in a vote his main rivals were barred from.
Ouattara, 83, won the West African country’s October 25 ballot with the opposition’s top two candidates, ex-president Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse banker Tidjane Thiam, both prevented from running by the courts.
“Mr Alassane Ouattara has been declared elected in the first round as President of the Republic of Ivory Coast,” the Constitutional Council’s President, Chantal Nanaba Camara, said in Abidjan.
Saying the court had “not received any complaints”, she added that “examination of the official reports reveals no irregularities that could undermine the integrity of the election or affect the result”.
The opposition has frequently accused the authorities of leaning on the courts to bar Thiam and Gbagbo, the first over nationality issues and the second over a criminal conviction. The government insists that the judiciary acted independently.
In a post on X Tuesday, Ouattara thanked Ivorian voters for their “renewed confidence” in him.
Compared to previous Ivorian elections, which saw mass outbreaks of violence, this year’s presidential vote largely passed off relatively peacefully, with a few incidents that saw 11 people killed.
But turnout stood at an underwhelming 50.10 percent, according to the council, with many voters in the opposition’s strongholds in the south and east staying away from the ballot box.
